Turning Points
by Xenolord
Summary: After something horrible happens to Gale, she must make the hardest choice of her life. T for mature themes.


Disclaimer: I only own Maria, Serras, Natalya, and like... half... ish... of Gale.

Author's Note: I thought this up as a little thought-provoker. I hope you can respect my decision at the end. Towards the middle, the language gets sort of suggestive. If you understand, good. If not, you will when you're older.

Turning Point

As she lay in that ally, all she could think about was what had happened. Her clothes were shredded and strewn across the cold, stone floor. She could feel the cool blood from under her... the last remainders of her virginity. It had happened all too fast... she couldn't even remember how it started... all she could remember was smelling that sweet smell of ether... and then just... slivers. She could remember feeling that mysterious man on top of her, pushing into her... but that was it. She was just a child... how could anyone expect her to raise one? Pulling herself slowly to her feet, she managed out of the ally. It was dark now. She estimated the time at late seven o clock. Her mother would be worried by now. Nearly dragging herself down the streets of Battleon, she struggled homeward. Hopefully, she wouldn't run into any problems after that. Even though she was weak, and her vision poor, she managed to find her house just fine. Falling on the handle, she opened the door.

-

Maria heard the door open and something that sounded like a dead body hitting the ground followed. Standing, she went to the door.

"Gale? Is that you?" She asked on a hunch. She was over due back from school, and both Maria and Safiria were worried. "Gale... do you know what time..." She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized what had become of Gale. She was lying on the tile floor, face down and stark naked. Sweat and other liquids had crusted onto her face and back. "G-Gale... sweety?!" Maria started panicking. Truly panicking, like she had never done in her life. "SAFIRIA!" She called out. Slowly emerging from the kitchen with a glass of wine in her hand, Safiria shuffled tiredly over to where Maria's voice came from.

"You don't have to yell, Kitten, I'm righ..." She, like Maria, stopped when she saw Gale. She, however, had a different reaction. She nearly threw the glass to the floor, hoisted her dress over her knees, and ran to Gale's side. "Gale...! Gale! Are you okay?! Answer me! Please, answer me!!"

-

She heard the voices of her parents, but she was too worn to answer them. All she did grab Maria's hand and try to mutter something. "Oh go... god... she's... live... Firia... stay he... get Orta..." Was all she managed to make out of the words Maria was saying. Gale watched Maria stand and dart out the door into the young night.

-

Maria was against abrupt entries, but this was an emergency, and an emergency warranted an emergency entrance. Kicking the door hard, she splintered the oak portal into dozens of tiny chunks and entered.

"Orta! ORTA!" She called. Orta was hunched over on her table, sleeping, with a scalpel in her hand. Maria leaped over the table and shook Orta hard. "ORTA! Wake UP!" She shouted. The Medic sprung awake with a very annoyed look.

"The tower better be on fire, Maria." She droned. Without responding, Maria grabbed Orta's arm, wrenched her from her seat and literally threw her over her own back like a sack of potatoes.

"I don't have any time! Just hold on!"

-

Gale dozed in and out of consciousness for the following ten minutes, despite Safiria's attempts to keep her conscious. Being very careful not to move her too abruptly, Safiria got Gale to the couch and shut the door. Just as Gale lost consciousness again, the door swung open once more, and Maria entered with Orta on her back. Dropping the medic, Maria went back to Gale's side.

"Jesus..." Orta muttered, opening her medical bag. Throwing her stethoscope around her neck, she tried to get Safiria and Maria.

"I'm not leaving her!" Maria had replied.

"I'm not asking you to leave her, Maria, I'm asking you to take a few steps back!" Orta barked back. Defeated, Maria and Safiria did as they were told. Orta went to work.

Some ten more minutes passed before Orta finally pulled back, exhaled loudly and smiled.

"Well?" Maria muttered. Orta only smiled deeper and exhaled again. "What?!" Maria continued, agitation evident in her voice.

"I've got good and bad news." Orta spoke.

"Gimme the good news first." Safiria spoke. Orta waved her concern away.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with her. She's just tired and weak. She'll be fine." Both Maria and Safiria exhaled, a breath of fresh air. Maria took Safiria's hand.

"Well... what's the bad news then?" Maria asked as a second thought.

"Well..." Orta began. "It's not really bad news... well... it kinda is, depending on how you look at things... I suppose if it were an older woman, like myself, or Moon Called, it would be good news... but to one so young, it's probably ba-"

"ORTA!" Maria and Safiria shouted together. Orta stopped herself.

"Ah. Right. The bad news is... she's pregnant." What little life that was left in Maria's face drained away. This was not news she wanted to hear.

"S-since when?"

"This morning." Orta replied. The frown of concern burst into a grimace of anger.

"She never told us!"

"That's the kicker, Maria... she didn't know..."

"Come on, Orta! It's impossible to get pregnant and not know!"

"Maria. Listen to me for a change. Gale isn't like Moon Called or I. She doesn't like guys that way. I'm not thinkin' consensual here. I'm thinking..." She paused, sighed and continued. "I'm thinking rape." The look of anger only worsened.

"Safiria, watch Gale." Maria muttered standing.

"Where are you going, Kitten?" Safiria asked, grabbing Maria's arm.

"Hunting." She replied simply, grabbing her sword from behind the couch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Orta called, grabbing the sheathed blade. "Let's not be too hasty!"

"Still I think it's rather tasty!" Maria replied, trying to wrench Orta's grip away. "I'm gonna kill that son of a Drakel when I find him! I'm gonna kill him so bad, not even DENTAL RECORDS can identify him!"

"Maria, listen to me for a second! If you kill him, that's gonna put you in the shits with Captain Krieger!" Orta held her grip on the sword, trying to stifle Maria's rage.

"You listen to me now! Raping my daughter put him in the shits with ME! The only difference is, Krieger would prosecute! I just butcher!" Maria continued, pulling on the handle.

"Listen, Maria... can I talk to you? I want to talk to Reasonable Maria, not Psycho Killer Maria. Can I talk to Reasonable Maria, please?" Maria dropped her grip on the sword and crossed her arms.

"Reasonable Maria present." She spoke.

"Listen. I know you're angry. Believe me, I can understand why. But you have to think things through. You've always been a damn good soldier, I know that. But you're also a damn good diplomat. Remember that time you, Serras and I went to Labryanna? That was a fine example of your powers of persuasion! All I want you to do is look past the revenge motive, and ask, is this what you, Gale, Safiria... Gale's child... is this what they'd want? Someone's blood on your hands?" Maria sighed. "Find him! By all means, find his ass! I'll help you! But don't kill him! Death is too good. Make him suffer. Make him rot in jail." Maria smiled. Not caring, but cruel and sadistically.

"Suffer... rot in jail... yea... good idea! Thanks Orta. Catch you later."

-

"So... Micheal. Tell us. Did you do it? Did you ACTUALLY do it?" One boy asked a second, sitting at the barstool. The second smiled, drank from his glass and replied.

"Yep. I did."

"Oh, snap! You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"How'd you do it? The ether trick? Tell me you used my ether trick!"

"I did." The other two boys around him laughed.

"Tell us! You gotta tell us!" One leaned closer. "How tight was she?"

"Virgin." The second responded. This prompted a series of 'oh snap!'s and 'oh, boy!'s from the group.

"One last question."

"Hum?"

"Who was it? Come on, tell us who it was!"

"You know that hot piece of ass in Collective Combat Studies?"

"Yea?"

"Wait... which one... there's like... five..."

"The one with the green hair. Gale."

"Oh, snap!" The third boy echoed.

"Wait... Gale? Gale DESPAIR?" The first asked, an uneasiness in his voice.

"I dunno. What does her last name matter."

"Oh, fuck... Ooooooh... oh fuck..." The first spoke in a shaking voice. He ran a hand through his hand.

"What's your problem, Kyle?" The third asked.

"Gale DESPAIR! Despair, dude! You remember the teacher talking about Maria Despair? Shit, Gale's her DAUGHTER, man! Her fuckin' DAUGHTER! If half the shit the teacher tells us about Maria is true, you're dead, man! You're fuckin' cock meat! She'll chew you're ass up so fast! Ohhhh... ooooh, fuck..." The smiles vanished from the other two boys faces.

"Bartender. Get my friends another round here. Because in two minutes, they'll be crying for something to dull the pain." A cold voice spoke behind them. The second boy turns slowly around to see the face of the ever-young, but cold Maria Despair. Maria grabbed the first and second boys, hoisting them up to eye level. "Well well well. I didn't have to force a confession out of your asses, you did it for me. Fancy that." The third boy tried to crawl away. "Stay!" Maria shouted. "If you know what's good for you." She looked at the first, named Kyle. "Kyle, was it?" The boy nodded. "Tell me Kyle, where did you get Ether?"

"Sc-sc-sc-sc-science c-c-c-class!" He replied. "The teacher h-h-h-has a huge s-s-supply of it! I swear!"

"Hum Agenda Item Two. Lock down Ether supplies. Agenda Item One. You. Coward." She addressed the third boy on the floor. "I've got a job for you. If you value your dick, you'll go to the Guardian Tower, and get Captain Artix Von Krieger, and bring him here." The boy stood, nodded profusely, and exited. "And as for you. Hang around. You'll be needed." She hoisted him higher and put Kyle on a coat hook. "And now. You. Micheal, was it?" Micheal nodded. "Thought so. I've got a proposition for you, my high-and-mighty friend. It's a rather simple one. It's a simple, three choice proposition. Choice one. You suck up your pride, marry my daughter, catch all-hell the rest of your life, and raise the child you helped conceive. Or, you can be a man, pay the child support for eighteen years. Both of those options also include serving the state-limit of eight years in a federal penitentiary for the rape charge. Or, there's always option three..." Maria trailed off.

"What's option three?" He asks. Maria smiled.

"Option three, is you serve the eight years, probably get off on good behavior, and when you're walking out of the prison, you'll see my smiling face there. Surprise! I've come to see you out! Oh, but wait... there's a catch. You see... I've been assigned to get you out... not necessarily to get you out alive. You see, about halfway out of the prison, I'll pull your fingers off, followed by your hands, then by your arms. I'll then pull your toes out, followed by your feet and legs. Then I'll grab you nuts, squeeze, pull, twist, burn, electrocute, freeze, you name it. I'll cut your tongue out with a toothpick and gouge your eyes out with a pencil. Then, only then, and only if you're lucky, will I kill you. Sure I'll go to jail for murder, but you know what? My lifetime is a whole HELL of a lot longer then yours. I'll get out eventually. You... well, unlike my death, yours will be quite... permanent." Her red eyes seemed to get colder as they stared at the young man's life-filled eyes. "So. What's your choice?" The boy, shaking from head to toe at the vivid description of how he may exit this world, slowly held up his hand, only one finger extended.

"O-one..." He answered.

"Well. You've got balls. I'll give you that." The door opened.

"Maria. What brings you here. And... why is that boy hanging from a coat rack hook?"

"Captain Krieger, I'd like you to arrest all three of these children."

"For?" Artix asked.

"This one." She pointed to the boy who retrieved Artix. "For assisting in a capital offense." She pointed to Kyle. "This one, for providing an illegal substance for a dastardly purpose." She finally pointed to Micheal. "And this one. Well. You'd better hear it from his mouth." She slapped him in the head. "Go on."

"I... I... I had sex with..." Maria slapped him again.

"Proper terminology, boy. Proper terminology!"

"I..." He began. "I... raped her daughter..."

"Gale? Jesus, Maria, is she alright?"

"Her and the baby will pull through." She looked at Micheal. "Yea, that's right asshole! In nine months, you're gonna be a father. I pity that child. I really do. It'll have a fantastic mother, but a piss-poor father. Go on, Captain, before I kill his sniveling ass." Artix motioned to the guards to take them away, while he went to Maria.

"Are you alright, Maria?" Maria, who was crying now, only shook her head. Shaking tears away, Maria drew her sword and slammed it into a pool table, cleaving it in half. She went up to the barkeep.

"Terribly sorry about that. Put it on my tab, would you?" She spoke.

"It's alright, Maria. We were replacing it anyways."

-Meanwhile-

"What kind of options do we have here, Orta?"

"Well... two really." Orta responded to Safiria. Gale was now conscious, and aware.

"She could either carry the baby to term. After that, she could raise it, or give it up for adoption."

"Okay..."

"Or... there's the other option..."

"Abortion?" Gale finished. Orta nodded grimly. Gale began to think about her three possibilities. She didn't half mind having a child of her own... but she had always hoped someone she loved would give her that pleasure... Adoption wasn't a bad choice... but she wanted to be able to see her child once in a while... and Abortion... that was, by far, the most painful way out. But, it was not without perks... she could save herself pain, and the slight possibility of her failing as a mother.

As she made up her mind, she figured it was going to be hard... but she'd pull through.

Ending Author's Note: What is the answer? What did Gale choose? That is one question that I can never answer for you. Why? Because I don't know the answer. And why don't I know it? Put simply, I don't want to know the answer. There is only one person who has the answer to that question now. That person... is you. I leave you to finish this... in your mind.


End file.
